Tesla Model 3 Delayed til 2018

Those of you that have been waiting for Tesla to release its economical, electric Model 3 are going to have to wait a little bit longer. Tesla announced this week that mass production of the Model 3 will be pushed back from the anticipated release date of 2017 to sometime in 2018, giving those that are excited for an electric vehicle with a 200-mile range reason to take a deep sigh.

The Model 3 is Tesla’s answer to the Chevrolet Bolt, an entry-level electric vehicle that will boast a maximum range up to 200 miles. Tesla’s announcement means that the Bolt will be able to enjoy a primary share of this market for a few years before Tesla comes to crash the party. Tesla is obviously the best-known name when it comes to electric vehicles, and many of the company’s luxury vehicles are far more statistically impressive than the Model 3 will be. However, the Model 3 will cater to the everyman demographic in a way that Tesla has not yet been able to.

The Tesla Model 3 is expected to be competitively priced, with an MSRP right around the $34,000 that a Chevrolet Bolt will cost. However, the Model 3 will be sleeker and likely have greater performance figures than Chevrolet’s signature electric vehicle. The Chevrolet Bolt is slated to arrive in 2017, so if things stand, the Bolt will have this market cornered for around a year before having to deal with this major challenge from Tesla.

Tesla is still moving ahead on the Model 3 and have not experienced any major hangups – they’ve simply pushed the expected date a bit further back to temper expectations. Tesla executives confirmed that they will still show the car widely in 2016, and commence production in 2017. If they are to be believed, that means that we can look for Tesla Model 3s at dealerships sometime in early 2018.

The Model 3 is expected to be released both as a sedan and crossover, and it is as-of-yet unconfirmed whether the crossover will be released later than the sedan model. In any case, electric car enthusiasts will have to practice a little bit of patience if they want to get their hands on Tesla’s most economical car to (future) date.